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Green Lantern Roller Coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure (Review)

The brand new Green Lantern Roller Coaster at Six Flags Great Adventure has stepped in to fill the worn boots of The Great American Scream Machine.

Farewell Scream Machine

The Scream Machine was a fun ride that would pummel the shit out of you.

Whenever I rode the Scream Machine, I would get off with a lot of neck pain… But I would still hop in every time I went to Great Adventure.

Enough about that old rust bucket, let’s talk about what replaced it.

The Green Lantern

What is it?

The Green Lantern is a standings roller coaster set to the theme of the comic character that is emerging from obscurity this summer.

When I say it’s a standing roller coaster I don’t mean legs free like Bizarro or Batman, I mean you actually stand in the car. You straddle a saddle that adjusts based on your height, and then pull a fairly standard shoulder harness over your head. Before the ride starts everything locks in place.

After that it’s a lot of loops and corkscrews.

The Good

As a fan of the comic character, I appreciated the attention to detail in the design. The giant Ferris Aircraft and the test jet were cool.

I also really like that the first loop is yellow representing the rider experiencing fear. In the comics, yellow is the color of fear. This is a meaningless detail unless you’re a fan of the character, but I thought it was a nice touch.

Finally, the initial sensation of dropping while standing was really cool… but it didn’t last long.

The Not-So-Good

The ride broke a lot. I rode it twice, and it broke each time while I was waiting in line. This isn’t unusual for new rides, so I can’t fault them for it provided it doesn’t happen often a few months from now.

Riders have no idea how the hell they’re supposed to strap themselves into the standing contraption. The attendants had to spend far too much time teaching people how to position themselves in the harness.

The Ugly

The harness is very uncomfortable, especially later in the day when you’re sweaty. It hugs the body in far too many places.

If you aren’t standing properly when the ride starts, you’re stuck with an uncomfortable harness through the entire trip. I’m not sure what I did differently between the two runs, but the harness was less comfortable the second run.

Finally, Green Lantern has its predecessor’s knack for knocking heads, however it also has the aforementioned harness surrounds your skull. This trades neck pain for a headache, as you’re head will bounce back and fourth in the harness like a pinball.

The Bottom-line

My first run was ok, but it banged-up my head.

My second run later in the day was very uncomfortable, and I spent all of my attention trying to keep my head from smashing into the harness, instead of enjoying the ride.

While I love Green Lantern comics, the ride is a dud.

Six Flags Great Adventure has many exceptional rides such as El Toro, Superman, Batman and Nitro… The Green Lantern is not one of them. I will probably skip this ride the next time I visit the park.

I went to Great Adventure yesterday in Jackson New Jersey. A 2 hour wait to get on majority of the coasters except Rolling Thunder. 2 HOUR WAIT!!! REALLY!!!! Last time I ever go to this hole in the wall. Worst experience ever in an amusement park!!!!

This ride looks like Riddlers Revenge at 6 flags Magic Mountain’s, in California. same idea, stand up and have the living crap smacked out of your head. Anyone going on it needs to remove ear rings. Even sun glasses, with strap, causes some ear cartridge damage on top of a concussion. they need to redesign the restraint systems on most of the over the head bars.

My head didn’t get smacked around I must have epic neck control…I just laid with my head against the head rest and i was fine…
My legs and other *ahem* places got the crap smashed out of them…and I’m a girl, I can’t imagine what it was like for males. The ride smashed my legs into the floor they went numb it hurt and when I got off the women in front of me on the stairs was limping :(
Prolly won’t go on that ride againe :)